Diego awoke on a patch of tall grass which he made into his bed for the night. Normally he sleeps with the others in a large valley, but he knew Shira was going to be there and the last thing he was going to do was sleep there while she was mad, he may be brave, but not suicidal. He stood up and stretched and then began to walk towards the valley where the herd was. When he arrived, he saw that many of the animals were awake, Manny, Ellie and Sid saw him and waved him over. He approached them and began to talk.
"So you're heading out?" Manny asked.
"Yep." He responded.
"When will you be back?" Ellie asked.
"It's a day's walk, so I'll be back either late tonight or tomorrow morning." He said.
"Well don't you worry Diego; I'll be waiting for you until you get back." Sid said.
"Thanks Sid." He said sarcastically.
"Don't worry about anything, you just go hunting and have a good time." Manny said.
"Thanks buddy; I must say I'm surprised that you're okay with this." He said.
"Well like you said, I much have you disemboweling some unknown deer than anyone of us." He said.
"Hey is Shira around?" He asked.
"Oh she's still sleeping, I wouldn't wake her up though, she's probably still a little mad." Ellie said.
"I see; we'll I guess it's time for me to go, I'll be back soon." He said.
"Good luck Diego." Manny said.
"Thanks Manny." He said.
"Yeah and everything will be fine when you get back." Ellie said winking and Diego smiles.
Diego turns around and starts walking, as he heads into the jungle, he turns back to see if he can catch a glimpse of Shira, he then took a deep sigh and continued to walk, he was really going to need to pour his heart out if Shira was ever going to forgive him. Meanwhile Shira had woken up from her rest, although she wasn't really refreshed, she was still angry about the previous night. After storming off from the others, she made herself comfortable near are large tree and went to sleep. She woke up when she heard Diego coming, but not wanting to see him, she remained quiet and out of sight and as she watched Diego leave, she felt a little heartbroken. When Diego was gone, she stepped out into the open and Ellie caught sight of her and stopped her before she got too far.
"Well good morning to you sunshine." She greeted.
"Please don't start with me Ellie? I'm not in the mood." She said.
"Oh I can see that. So are you still angry?" She asked.
"Not as much as last night, but I still can't believe what Diego said." She said.
"What did he say?" Ellie asked.
"You know what he said, you were there." Shira said.
"Oh I was there alright, and I recall him saying that he was going to go hunting and then you got angry and walked off before he could explain himself." She explained.
"What was there for him to explain, he didn't want me to come hunting with him, that's pretty self-explanatory." She almost shouted.
"I know it seems bad, but he actually had a good reason." She said.
"And what would that be?" She asked.
"Well I can't really say; that's something the two of you are going to have to talk about yourselves." She explained.
"Yeah, sure that'll work." She said sarcastically.
"Look I understand, you're mad, but you have to give Diego a chance, and who knows you might be surprised about what he says." She said.
Shira didn't say anything; she just turned around and looked at the ground for a few seconds.
"Shira let me ask you something, do you know I was raised by possums?" She asked.
"Yes, Diego explained the whole thing." She responded.
"Well living with a family of possums, you develop the fear of being almost eaten on a regular basis." She went on.
"So what?" She asked.
"We learned to never leave any bad stuff between each other, because you can never know if that is the last time you're going to see each other." She said.
"Wow, I guess I never thought of it that way." She said.
"Now I'm not saying that Diego is not going to come back, but if he didn't, would that fight really be the last thing you wanted to happen between you two?" Ellie asked.
Shira again remained silent; she just stood there and pondered what Ellie said.
"I guess you're right Ellie, I'll talk to Diego when he gets back." She said.
"That a girl." She said with a smile.
Shira smiles and walks off leaving Ellie with a smile on her face and then Manny comes walking over with a confused look on his face.
"What was that all?" He asked.
"Just setting the world honey." She said.
Unfortunately everything is about to go bad for on the beach, Roark and his pack step off the glacier and survey their surroundings. Roark walked a few feet and then stuck his nose in the air, sniffed it a little and growled.
"He's here, I can smell him." He said.
Oscar walked up next to him and sniffed as well, but didn't seem to have as much success.
"How can you tell, I don't smell anything." He said,
"I can always identify the scent of a traitor, it's putrid, and I should know I've killed a good number of them." He said.
Oscar, Lenny and Zeke looked at each other nervously after hearing Roark's statement.
"Well this is a big island, where are we going to find him?" Lenny asked.
"Leave that to me." He said.
Roark then turned and walked over to several of his sabers who instantly stood at attention when they saw him. He approached a saber with a moderate build, blue eyes, a light brown coat with a tan underbelly and a very obedient look on his.
"Rico I have a job for you." He said.
"What is it sir?" He asked.
"I want you to lead a small scouting party into the jungle, if you find any sign of Diego, report back to me and I'll bring the rest." He explained.
"Yes sir." Rico said.
"Make sure you are discreet, I don't want any mistakes, now do you understand?" He asked slightly threatening.
"I understand sir." He responded a little scared.
Rico and about two other sabers walked away and the trio approached Roark.
"You're just sending them alone, what if they can't find Diego, and they don't even know his scent." Oscar said.
"Good point, you three go with them." Roark said.
"What, you mean go in there?" Lenny asked.
"We don't even know what's in that jungle." Zeke said.
"Do you want to find him or not!?" Roark shouted glaring at them.
The three were so scared of his response, that they couldn't even say a word; they all just nod their heads as a way to say yes.
"Good, now go." He ordered.
They instantly ran to join the others. Roark just looked to the jungle and thought to himself.
'You can run Diego, but you can't hide.'